With help from Ben Lefebvre, Gavin Bade and Kelsey Tamborrino

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Quick fix

— Methane emissions are running amok in the Permian Basin, according to a new study by Earthworks that found many wells emitting the potent greenhouse gas without the required state permits.

— A court voided Trump-era permits for ConocoPhillip’s controversial Willow oil project late Wednesday, handing greens and Alaska Indigenous groups a major win and tasking DOI with redoing its environmental review on the project.

— Infighting has broken out within the solar industry over how to handle tariffs on panel imports from Asia, pitting concerns over human rights violations in China against delays in the clean energy transition.

HAPPY THURSDAY! I’m your host, Matthew Choi. Sadly no one knew “Pakistan” is an acronym for Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sind and Balochistan (it also means “land of the pure”). Today’s trivia: What won best foreign language film at the 79th Academy Awards? Send your tips and trivia answers to [email protected]. Find me on Twitter @matthewchoi2018.

Check out the POLITICO Energy podcast — all the energy and environmental politics and policy news you need to start your day, in just five minutes. Listen and subscribe for free at politico.com/energy-podcast. On today's episode: Is clean hydrogen an illusion?

Driving the day

METHANE MISCHIEF: An overwhelming majority of oil wells in West Texas emitting methane are doing so without permits, according to a new study by the environmental group Earthworks reported today by Pro’s Ben Lefebvre.

Earthworks conducted the study with data from the Environmental Defense Fund, who flew helicopters with methane-detecting sensors over parts of the Permian Basin in 2020. Of the 227 flare stakes detected, 84 percent of them didn’t have the required permits with the Texas Railroad Commission, even as the commission has drastically ramped up the number of permits it approves, from a little over a hundred in 2008 to nearly 7,000 in 2019.

Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases, capable of trapping more heat than carbon dioxide, though it stays in the atmosphere for less time. The Biden administration has increased its attention to reducing methane emissions, with funding to plug in leaks from wells in the bipartisan infrastructure deal.

The flyovers found emissions coming from wells operated by both small companies and multinational giants, including companies that have made public commitments to rein in emissions. Exxon had six stacks emitting methane without a permit, according to the study, and Shell had eight. The companies disputed the study, with an Exxon spokesperson calling it “deliberately misleading” since some flaring is exempt or pre-authorized by state rules. A Shell spokesperson denied the company was operating flares without a permit.

"Shell takes methane emissions reduction very seriously and is dedicated to conducting operations in a safe and environmentally responsible manner," Shell spokesperson Natalie Gunnell said. "We cannot make the case for natural gas playing a pivotal role in the energy transition if methane emissions go unchecked."

In the courts

COURT FREEZES CONOCO ALASKA PROJECT: A U.S. District Court in Alaska late Wednesday voided the permits the Trump administration had approved for ConocoPhillip’s proposed Willow oil project in the state — a major win for green and Indigenous groups who had opposed the project. The case was one of the few court challenges brought against the former administration that the Biden Department of Justice decided to continue defending.

The judge found that the environmental review Interior conducted for the original permit was “legally flawed,” specifically its decision not to count certain greenhouse gas emissions toward the project’s environmental footprint. The court also faulted its analysis of how the project would impact polar bears in the area.

Interior, which environmental groups had originally thought would kill the project once Biden took office, declined to comment on the court opinion. It is now tasked with putting the environmental review back on the drawing table as per the court order. ConocoPhillips says it’s reviewing the decision. Ben has more for Pros.

Around the Agencies

SOLAR SECTOR INFIGHTING: U.S. solar panel installers are pushing back against a petition from U.S. solar manufacturers to impose tariffs on panel imports from Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. The Solar Energy Industries Association sent a letter to its members Tuesday saying it would “aggressively oppose” the petitions from a group of American solar manufacturers to impose tariffs on panels from the three nations.

While SEIA says it is still reviewing the lengthy petitions, trade group president Abigail Ross Hopper wrote that “the disruption to the U.S. solar market could be severe” if new tariffs are imposed. Their worry is that new tariffs will push up the installed cost of solar in the U.S., making it less competitive with electricity sources like natural gas and wind, and potentially hampering climate action.

The petitioners say rival manufacturers like Jinko Solar and Canadian solar are sending Chinese-made panels to those nations for shipment to the United States in a bid to avoid American tariffs on Chinese panels.

LET THE SOLAR PANEL SEIZURES BEGIN: Also in her letter to SEIA members, Hopper noted that Customs and Border Protection has started to hold shipments of solar panels they think could be made with materials from Chinese company Hoshine, which is subject to an import ban imposed by the Biden administration in June. While the scope of CBP’s action is not yet clear, Hopper wrote that a “significant portion” of at least one major solar company’s imports are being detained. Bloomberg reported that company is Canadian Solar, and a spokesperson for the firm said that “all” solar module imports from China are at risk of being detained as CBP expands its enforcement of the ban.

COSTLY CAFE: The Biden administration is considering applying higher fines to car makers who missed fuel economy targets for model years 2019 to 2021, potentially reversing one of Trump’s midnight regulations. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration increased the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) penalties from $5.50 per tenth of a mile per gallon to $14 in 2016. The Trump administration’s effort to undo the hike was struck down in the courts, but just before the White House changed hands in January, NHTSA said it would delay the penalty increase until model year 2022 vehicles — to the chagrin of environmentalists, Democrats and Tesla.

Applying the higher rate to the past three years’ fleets could put hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars on the line. Because of their scope, CAFE penalties are among the biggest civilian penalties levied by the federal government. Alex Guillén has more for Pros.

THE GRAND TOUR CONTINUES: Top Biden administration officials are continuing on their energy transition and infrastructure speaking tours, with EPA Administrator Michael Regan in Los Angeles today to highlight environmental justice issues. He and Rep. Nanette Barragán will meet with local EJ leaders and tour neighborhoods heavily impacted by pollution.

Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will continue her visit to New Mexico, visiting the Farmington area where she’ll tour a family-owned hydrogen facility and speak with local Navajo leaders to tout the administration’s plans for a clean energy transition. The state is a major energy producer, with over 11,000 clean energy workers and, with its perennial sunshine, among the top three states in terms of solar power potential.

Granholm’s visit to a hydrogen facility comes as the administration aims to boost hydrogen production while reducing its costs as part of its Energy Earthshot Initiative. The department is aiming to reduce the costs of clean hydrogen by 80 percent in the next decade to $1 per kilogram, while also hoping to reduce at least 90 percent of lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from hydrogen, including carbon dioxide and methane emissions from the natural gas often used to create hydrogen. The bipartisan infrastructure plan includes $8 billion in spending to establish regional “clean hydrogen” hubs, with at least two being in heavy natural gas producing regions.

On the methane front: Increased attention is falling on the lifetime emissions of blue hydrogen production after a recent study found that the carbon-managed fuel source actually is responsible for a considerable amount of greenhouse gas emissions due to fugitive methane and uncaptured carbon. And the chair of the UK’s hydrogen and fuel cell association resigned over personal misgivings on blue hydrogen, saying it would prolong the use of fossil fuels, BusinessGreen reports.

DOE’S PATH TO EFFICIENCY: The Energy Department opened up comment on a proposal this week to undo a Trump-era rule that created two new product classes of water heaters and home furnaces, which efficiency advocates worried would allow less efficient products to remain on the market. In the waning days of the Trump administration, DOE published a final rule determining that use of non-condensing technology and associated venting in residential furnaces and commercial water heaters constituted a performance-related "feature" under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which may not be eliminated by an energy conservation standard. In its new proposal, the Biden DOE proposes to return to the previous interpretation prior to the Trump rule that "reflects the better reading of the requirements in EPCA." Once published in the Federal Register, the proposal is open to a 30-day comment period.

NPS GETS A NOM: President Joe Biden nominated Charles "Chuck" Sams to lead the National Park Service. If confirmed, Sams would be the first Native American to hold the title. He is currently a council member to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council and has held a number of leadership roles on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. More from E&E News.

In the States

PULLING THE KEYSTONE: Republicans in the Pennsylvania legislature are upping their efforts to keep the state from joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which they say would be damaging for Pennsylvania’s energy industry. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf is pushing to get the state into RGGI, a cap-and-trade program that mitigates emissions across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, through the state’s regulatory process.

Republicans on the state Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee voted to send a letter of disapproval over the move on Wednesday to the state’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission, which will vote on the regulation next month. The cake isn’t baked if the IRRC approves the regulation, with the Republican-led legislature still having a number of opportunities to overturn it in the weeks after. State Republicans argue Pennsylvania is different from other RGGI members because it’s a significant energy producer and would be disproportionately harmed. Jordan Wolman has more for Pros.

FROM FLORIDA: “Secretive group wants PSC to shield membership list,” via Pro’s Bruce Ritchie.

On the Hill

THE OVERSIGHT EXXON FIGHT: Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are hoping to get an on-the-record interview with Exxon lobbyist Keith McCoy, who made a major splash when he was caught on tape in a Greenpeace UK sting operation making damning assessments about the company’s commitments to climate action. But Republicans on the committee are fretting that they aren’t getting the full story, demanding that Greenpeace UK reveal the entirety of its interview with McCoy.

Republicans asked Democrats to join in their request to the group, but the Democratic members declined, a GOP staffer told ME. Ranking member James Comer and Environment Subcommittee Ranking member Ralph Norman are now pushing again for their Democratic counterparts to join them in their push for the entirety of the McCoy sting video. “Your rejection of this request for information raises questions about the motivation and legitimacy of your inquiries into these matters; what possible reason could there be for Committee Democrats to actively avoid seeking a complete account of a matter they are, with great fanfare, investigating?” the lawmakers write in a letter first shared with ME.

Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney and Environmental Subcommittee Chair Ro Khanna said in a statement to ME that they are already probing the fossil fuel industry and that “some of our colleagues are missing the point and trying to divert attention from these important issues. We invite our colleagues to see the bigger picture and join us in holding polluters accountable.” Both McCoy and Exxon CEO Darren Woods publicly acknowledged the tape and apologized after it went live. The House Oversight Committee is in talks with McCoy to speak on the record with the committee, ME reported Wednesday.

The Grid

— “Landowners accuse FERC pipeline inspector of collusion,” via E&E News.

— “Exxon sees 'great opportunity' in Brazil for lower-emission oil output,” via Reuters.

— “Carbon Offset Deal Helps Michigan Cash In on Its Trees—by Not Cutting Them Down,” via The Wall Street Journal.

— “Tractors Finally Get the Tesla Treatment,” via Bloomberg.

— “Colonial Pipeline Co. warns of data breach tied to ransomware attack,” via E&E News.

THAT’S ALL FOR ME!

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